High-Society Secret Baby - Maxine Sullivan Page 0,15
she looked up, the door was closing behind him on his way out. She sank to the floor in a daze and sat there for several seconds while she caught her breath. The incredible urge to touch Dominic had shocked her with its intensity. What was even more incredible was that if not for Nicole she would have done it.
Four
Dominic had said earlier they would eat alfresco tonight, so Cassandra refreshed her light makeup and gave her shoulder-length hair a quick brush, then smoothed her white cotton shirt down over the matching drawstring pants. Flat sandals gave her outfit a casually elegant look.
Then she went downstairs to find the table on the deck set for two and Dominic standing there dressed in chinos and a shirt, opening a bottle of wine. Behind him the sun was in the midhorizon and slowly sinking in the sky.
It all looked so…romantic.
Her heart jumped in her throat and she had to wonder, would he try and get her into his bed tonight? After the way she’d reacted to him this afternoon, she doubted he’d have to put in much effort.
“Is Nicole asleep?”
“Er…yes.” She stepped into the evening and walked toward the table. He met her halfway with a glass of wine, then held out a chair for her. She quickly took her seat before her legs gave way.
Soon he was sitting opposite her and holding up his wineglass in a toast. “Cheers.”
She held hers up, too. “Cheers.”
He leaned back and took a sip while looking out over the tranquil view of the pool and garden in the bush setting. Cassandra followed his example and could feel a little of the tranquility seeping into her bones.
Dominic turned toward her. “I’m expecting a business call later, but hopefully only after we eat. We’re having some problems with a supplier, and I want to keep informed.”
She frowned, worried about him for once, though she would never say that to him. “I thought you were going to take a break from work?” was all she said.
“I’m getting plenty of rest,” he muttered, the look in his eyes saying that there was rest and then there was abstinence.
A quiver pulsed through her veins. “So, what’s on the menu?” she said, then thought she could rephrase that better, considering the circumstances.
A flash of amusement said he was thinking the same thing. “I thought we’d eat the seafood from last night.”
She felt a stab of guilt for falling asleep like she had. “Good idea, otherwise we’ll have to throw it out.”
His brow lifted. “Is that the only reason you’ll eat it? Would you prefer something else?”
“What? Oh, no. I love seafood. I was just thinking we shouldn’t be wasteful.”
“Wasteful?” he said as if he’d never heard of the word.
“There are starving people in the world, Dominic,” she chided, unable to ignore years of her mother’s favorite saying.
His mouth tightened. “I know that. It’s just something I never expected to hear you talk about.”
She bristled at the insult, intentional or not. “Then you don’t know me.”
A moment crept by.
“I don’t know you.”
“Perhaps it should stay that way,” she said, any illusion of ease between them gone, as if it had never been.
His eyes snapped to attention. “What do you mean?”
Everything surged inside her. Fear, tension, the stress of the last few months. “I can’t live like this for the rest of our married life, Dominic. No matter what you think of me, I prefer you keep any hostility to yourself in future.”
Surprise flickered; then he fixed her with an irritated scowl. “And if I can’t?”
She opened her mouth to say that she would leave and get an annulment, but as quickly remembered she couldn’t. She was trapped. Dear Lord, she couldn’t forget that if he found out about the money for the nursing home, he might put two and two together. Annulment or not, he might still use anything he could find to turn a judge’s opinion against her, including Keith Samuels and his convincing lies.
And she could lose Nicole.
Her heart constricted, and she knew she had to appeal to his better nature. It was the only way. It was all she had left.
“Dominic, please. If you can’t do it for my sake, do it for Nicole’s.”
His body tensed. “Nicole?”
“She needs a father. I watched you with her today, and I know you’re growing attached to her. Our hostility will only hurt her in the long run.”
His face shuttered more than usual, but she had to take hope that her words would